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Rural: It Matters!

The 2011 Rural LISC Annual Seminar, "Rural: It Matters!", was held October 12-14 in Washington, D.C. Partner organizations from across the country networked and learned how their colleagues are responding to current challenges and opportu- nities in rural commu- nity development.

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CDC Leaders Receive National Recognition

Rose Garcia, Executive Director of Tierra del Sol Housing Corporation, Anthony, NM, has been designated one of 10 "Champions of Change" by the White House in honor of Cesar Chavez Day 2012, for exemplifying Chavez's core values of service, knowledge, innovation, acceptance of all peoples and respect for life and the environment, and for dedicating herself to improving the lives of others in her local community and across the Nation. See the article in the Las Cruces Sun-News.

For the White House announcement, click here, and for Rose Garcia's statement, "Fruitful Under the Sun", click here.

Rose Garcia was nominated for this award by the National Association for Latino Community Asset Builders (NALCAB). For the NALCAB notice, click here.

Betty Tamm, Executive Director of NeighborWorks Umpqua, Roseburg, OR, received the "Practitioner of the Year" Excellence Award from National NeighborWorks Association (NNA). From the NNA press release: "Under Tamm’s leadership, NeighborWorks Umpqua has in the last nine years expanded from a staff of 12, to a current staff of 56 and an operational budget increase from less than a million dollars per year to over $5 million." Read the rest of the press release here, and the story in The News-Review here.

Funder in the Spotlight: Bank of America

Bank of America's support has been vital to Rural LISC’s community development work among the 60 Partner CDCs it supports, 39 of which operate in Bank of America service areas across 19 states.

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Welcome to LISC Rural LISC!

Talking about Tamaqua

On January 23, 2012, Loreal Mallett from The Institute for Comprehensive Community Development interviewed Micah Gursky, director of the Tamaqua Area Community Partnership in the borough of Tamaqua in rural eastern Pennsylvania. Micah works full-time as development director for St. Luke’s Miners Memorial Hospital, a small community hospital with about 45 beds in the nearby borough of Coaldale.

Can you tell us a little about yourself?

[Micah:] I grew up in Tamaqua, and, when I returned from college, I wanted to make a difference in a place that’s very important to me, my hometown.

I started in 1995 with working with the Tamaqua Area Community Partnership, not because it was the thing to do but because we were so desperate. Tamaqua has, over many decades, lost more than half of its population, has a chronically high unemployment rate, and we have a lot of issues. So comprehensive community development was really not by choice. We sort of had to do everything.

See the full interview at The Institute for Comprehensive Community Development.

CDC in the Spotlight

Pathfinder Services

An amazing story. 2012 was the third year for the successful Pathfinder Community Connections Free Tax Preparation program. This year, over 900 tax returns were completed with 240 families qualifying and receiving over $410,000 in Earned Income Tax Credit and a total of over $1 million in tax refunds.

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